In Japan it's the year of the snake, but in America it seems to be the year of the ocean with all of the incredible water effects seen in games these days. From Splashdown and Wave Race: Blue Storm to Pikmin and TransWorld Surf, more and more video games are featuring realistic water effects that are pretty enough to make you stop playing the game for a few minutes just to stare at the gorgeous sea. Wave Rally is another game that should be added to that list. Wave Rally uses GZ Wave technology to create real-time water that reacts differently based on the player's actions. The result is a water effect similar to ICO: impressive reflections that shift and ripple very realistically. If Wave Rally is the first watercraft racer you've played this year, then you'll probably be blown away by this game. But if you're playing this after finishing Splashdown or Wave Race: Blue Storm, the graphics don't seem quite as spectacular. As realistic as the water is, it almost has a liquid metal appearance. It's hard to explain, but think of Terminator 2 and you'll know what I mean. On the bright side, the particle effects are used much more efficiently than they are in TransWorld Surf, hammering another nail into that game's coffin. The camera tricks used in the replay mode are awesome. You won't see effects like that in any other racing game!

If the great graphics are the biggest attraction to this game, then most people won't walk away disappointed. However, if you were looking forward to Wave Rally because you hoped it would be PlayStation 2's answer to Wave Race 64, then you probably shouldn't even bother renting it.

One of the things that made Wave Race 64 so appealing was how smooth the controls were. That's something that no other developer (with the exception of Rainbow Studios) seems to understand. Wave Rally is about as responsive as Wave Race: Blue Storm, which isn't a very responsive game at all. Most gamers are split on Blue Storm's controls, so this may or may not bother you. Personally I'm not too thrilled with either game's play mechanics. Even if Wave Race 64 and Splashdown did not exist, Wave Rally's controls would still be sluggish at best. Perhaps the developers were trying to make the game more challenging, but if that were they case, they could've increased the difficulty of the opponents. Too many watercraft racers rely on the strategic placement of buoys to add longevity to the game. If you miss just one buoy in Wave Rally, your engine stalls! Splashdown is guilty of this too. How does this add longevity? Many close races were lost when I missed a buoy just before crossing the finish line, forcing me to race that course a second, third, fourth or fifth time. Once again this brings me back to Wave Race 64. WR64's difficulty was perfectly balanced. It wasn't challenging because of cheap gimmicks like the ones used in Wave Rally. WR64 had buoys, but if you missed one, it wasn't that big of a deal. Your engine would slow down, but not completely stall, so if you were near the finish line, it was still possible to win. I don't mean to keep making comparisons, but for a game that copies WR64 in so many ways, you'd think that Wave Rally would have chosen to copy the game's finer points and ignore the rest.

Wave Rally isn't a horrible game, but it does have a horrible camera that ultimately kills any chance this game had of being as good as Nintendo's masterpiece. I've played a ton of watercraft racers over the years, and none of them had a camera as nauseating as the one in Wave Rally. It didn't matter if I was going straight, making a turn or doing anything else in the game because the camera continually jumped up and down. I haven't had the pleasure of riding a real Jet Ski, so I don't know exactly how it's supposed to feel. I'm not a plumber either though, but I love the Super Mario Bros. games. Do you see where I'm going with this? Super Mario Bros. took a simple concept and turned it into a fun game. I don't play games because I want something that imitates real life -- I play them to escape from real life. Whether its camera is closer to the real thing or not, Wave Rally is really hard to enjoy when my brain feels like it's spinning in circles.

Gameplay: 6
There isn't anything overly original about Wave Rally, but that doesn't make it a bad game. What makes it bad are all of the annoyances that shouldn't have been in this game. The jumpy camera is the main problem, because the rest of game's faults could have been overlooked. Hopefully the developers will fix the camera and make a much more enjoyable sequel.

Graphics: 8 
Anyone who is obsessed with computer generated water will likely rent or buy Wave Rally whether they read my review or not. And that's not a bad choice -- if graphics are the most important thing to you, then you will probably have at least a little fun playing this game.

Sound: 6
Wave Rally's music is not nearly as enjoyable as Splashdown's killer rock soundtrack, but it's not too annoying either. The sound effects are decent, though the splashing sounds could have used some work.

Difficulty: 7.5
The hardest thing about Wave Rally is hitting every buoy. You don't have to hit them all, but if you miss one, your engine will stall, giving your opponents an unfair advantage.

Concept: 5 
The developers copied everything they knew about Wave Race 64 and made a not-so-unique racing game of their own.

Multiplayer: 5
It's unfortunate that the only 4-player Jet Ski racer available is Wave Race: Blue Storm. However, Wave Rally isn't much fun to play against one friend, so I doubt that it would have been much better if it had a 4-player mode.

Overall: 5.9
It's ironic that Wave Rally is geared toward gamers who love Wave Race 64, because I feel that you'll enjoy this game a lot more if you've never played WR64 before. Whether you've played WR64 or not though, I can't recommend Wave Rally as a buy. If you want a watercraft racing game, get Splashdown instead.